Sure start Children's Centres - do you use them and what do you think of them?

[carriemumsnet]

BBC Radio London have invited us on tomorrow (Friday am) to talk about what Mumsnetters think of Sure Start children's centres. It's a while since anyone an MNHQ used one so we'd be really interested to know what y'all think.

All feedback welcome.

Thanks

MNHQ

The children's centre near us is very supportive to childminders but when it opened we lost a lot of business & I nearly closed

None near us - though some are planned including rumours of one alongside ds1's school. But ds2 will be at school himself by the time it's built, so I doubt we'll get any use from it.

I live in very west Cornwall, and have been using SS centre for a good few years, at least 5.

I had horrible PND after ds2 was born, 4.5 years ago. The community support worker really was my lifeline. We are still friends to this day; she helped me BF dc3 too. Such a valuable women to me, she really is.

When the children are babies i use the baby clinic often, for weighing, BF discussion (3rd baby but first time BFer so many questions!).

Me & a friend go there once or twice a week too; for clinic (her dd2), the play sessions and for cake/lunch after

I have also done several mini courses through them; First Aid, Headspace (course to increase self esteem after PND - AMAZING)and the Webster-Stratton parenting program. I have also used their SALT (ds2 non-speaker until 3.3) and their SENCO (ds1 Dyspraxic).

Phew

I live in a SureStart area and ours is very good. Lots of activities for parents, babies & toddlers. The staff are great and the drop-in sessions they have are brilliant.
We've had free stairgates and smoke alarms fitted and they run an excellent introduction to books & reading programme.
There are loads of activities available in holidays & evenings too

Just got back from my local Children's Centre actually - I take my DD (10 months) to the toddler "stay and play". Although quite small, it's a nice, informal, relaxed group with clean, nice toys, and a well-organised snack time for the toddlers. One of the members of staff made an effort to welcome me when I first went, and remembers my name and my DD's name. It's only recently opened so I think they are still getting up and running with putting things on (maybe I should suggest a paddling pool full of cooked spaghetti!).

I have to say that the mums are definitely not the yummy mummy / NCT crowd, not sure whether this is to do with the fact I live in a council estate area of an otherwise dead posh town, or whether Sure Start is still associated with being for deprived areas and so the yummy mummies stay away. I do feel slightly awkward as I am rather posh compared to some of the other mums who go!!

Ours is fab - I love the social inclusion, you get a broad variety of people unlike NCT which is very much aimed at the middle classes. It's nice having a broad mix of people and a lot of younger mums. The staff are excellent too.

They fail MISERABLY at marketing themselves which is a real shame - lots of local mums don't even know the centre exists, and finding out when events are on is virtually impossible as they have no website or anything.

Ours (in SE London) was a real lifeline while I was on maternity leave - I used to go to baby group every week and various drop-in sessions, and met some good friends there (whereas my NCT group never really 'clicked' and I don't see any of them any more). DD now goes to the community nursery attached. It is situated in a 'deprived area' (in which I live!) but it is attended by a real mixture of people. It's a Very Good Thing.

Ours used to send out a monthly newsletter, which was great, but that disappeared when they officially stopped being Surestart and became a Children's Centre. Shame.

Ours has a website! Shame if this isn't universal though.

We go to ours twice a week DD plays, I get to talk to other mum friends and then we have a very good value lunch there usually. I also used to work in one in a different area which I also thought was brilliant, lots going on there, lots of family support and help for parents, lovely facilities for children. They were originally set up in the areas that needed them most Wigeon, at ours there is a real mix of people but it probably varies area to area, new ones seem to be appearing, I noticed that the very wealthy area where I used to be a nanny has now got one, not sure if the facilities are the same as it looks smaller.

Would love to use one, but find it very difficult knowing what is offered there. Website lists several exciting sounding things, but doesn't say days or times.

Also, not living in a built up area, I'm not sure which my 'local' one is as I seem to be out of all the catchment areas.

I love ours it is attached to dc school and I can go and have my mw appts there .
I also go to a babies and bumps group and intend to go to the bf group when dd is born .
There is a bf worker there most days who does homevisits .
Baby massage /days out /treasure baskets .
Staff are great .

I have no idea what they are.

The one near me is in a deprived area, although is about 5 minutes walk away so what does that tell you .

Anyway, I went recently for advice as ours has a La Leche run baby bistro every week and it was fabulous. The whole place is lovely and clean and modern and the classes seem varied and relevant.

I had a sharp word with myself for being so judgy initially and have now got over myself

When i had dd three yeares ago, i attended one of the pilot surestart centres (Britwell) it was in a very deprived area and i would never had gone if the midwives there hadnt been recommended to me but i am so glad they were, they had drop in clinics every week so if ever you had a pg worry or issue you could turn up and see a mw (which is hard to believe after some stuff i have read on here) there were a mw team of four who you got to know and they would accompany you to hosp and deliver baby or you could have a home birth

Following on from this there were loads of classes and acivities which were well publisced but not online, i did a first aid course specialised in child and infants. I was given so much free stuff, there was a bfing cafe which gave me free breast shells, and lent out electric breast pumps free to other mums, i also got a fridge magnet for bfing, hand cream for bfin for 6 months as a treat for me, there was an up to ones group where mums could have tea and a chat while babies played on floor mats and experts would come and talk to us or do activities (a podiatrist/a salt/baby massage woman/a dentist/someone who talked about vaccinations) and dd got a lovely picture board book (seperate from bookstart) free massage oil, a toothbrush and sippy cup and disposable bibs at a weaning talk

i then moved and there were no children centres here, i went on to have ds a year ago and they have opened in the last year but dont compare at all unfortunately, they dont market themselves at, ther is no website with activities on and the local directory of all other mother and toddler groups lists of scg=hools and nurseries etc, has no entries for surestart centres (something to do with funding i was told when i suggested they should be) there is a phone number listed on the central surestart website but when you ring it goes to voiceail or the person answering doesnt know the activities running

While the building of my new local one is nice, it has no parking (inside local primary school/compared to on a main road which discourages mums of very new babies from making that first visit) and is a bit souless as is empty and doors locked so you have to buzz and wait ages (again poss linked to being on primary school grounds)

People would go to the Britwell surestart centre to hang out, there was a community v=cafe selling very cheap healthy food and you could pop in anytime to find out about what activities were on as there were no locked doors

So all in all i thing that surestart centres can be a briliant thing but i thing the initial enthusiasm and strngth has faded over time and from what i hear although all the activities still run alot of funding has been cut at the Britwell centre

Ours is a very rural one and is (I think) pretty much unique in as much as it is a team, rather than a place - they use a selection of village halls for all their events in order to be equally 'present' in all corners of the area they cover. I have attended some of the stuff they organise, and I think they are a great team, and the events are always well attended. They have just had their (already huge) catchment area enlarged though and I think they are struggling a bit.

Ours in South Derbyshire is pretty new - only been up and running for 4mths or so - so things are just starting to get going/get busier.

I take dd2 to be weighed there and I attended the baby massage classes (it was fab as the course at the next nearest centre was massivley over-subscribed so the waiting list was huge. I saw a poster on the wall when I was at a weaning workshop, put my name down and turned up the next week!!)

I haven't been to any of the play sessions as they are on days that I work but the play room is lovely - well stocked with plenty of seating for mums and I have heard good things about the toy library.

They are a great idea - I find that there is so much more available than when I had dd1 7 years () ago

We have about 7 in our local area, all brilliant
toddler groups, dads groups at weekends, family creative play, lunch club( which is great as I get to eat with other adults instead of just 2 toddlers, healthy food and the DC get to play afterwards)
Parenting courses(infant massage, BLW,positive parenting for >6, 6-12 and tennagers)
Ballet, football, drama
Holiday clubs
computer courses
literacy for adults

I have used them periodically since they opened.
The ballet is great - I could never afford traditional classes, but 2.50 for an hour is great, and no special clothes required.
AS I mentioned I think the lunch club is great the food meets the heathy eating requirements and is prepared on the premises, meaning I can get the DC to try something new without spending a fortune on ingredients only for them not to eat it.

I do agree with others that unless you have computer access, and know where to find the info, it is not always easy to find out when things are on

Ours is in a deprived area of town with horrendous parking. I've never been.

They do run a fabulous outreach programme in the summer though. They come out to the villages and bring lots of outdoor toys and activities for children of all ages (o-11ish), all free of charge. Fabulous to have something to do when all the toddler groups, pre-schools etc stop for summer.

i just popped into mine after dropping dd off at nursery..inspired by this thread no less!

so no one on reception, in fact no one around at all. so i picked up a timetable of events and a couple of leaflets.

there's some good stuff. dd is near 3 so a lot is not geared to us, but will be more relevant when dc2 is born.

there's a new parent group;young parent group;dads stay and play;family stay and play;baby massage plus an nvq course in childcare, and a 5 wk introduction to schooling and national curriculum. i also noticed they do an antenatal drop in. not sure what that is, but you'd think i ought to seeings as i'm 3 months pregnant but my midwife hasn't mentioned it.

There are 3 within a 30 min walk of where I am now and I use them all!
I love surestart, me and the boys have got so much out of it since they were little.
Every week we go to stay and play on a Friday and drop in to the centre behind the library on a Monday afternoon as there are no groups on then but they stay open, so I meet my friends there for tea and a play!
Today we went swimming at one of the centres and because you need one adult for every child, one of the ladies who runs the toddler group there has given up her Thurs morning to come too so that she can be another pair of hands for my 2nd child.
Its the first place I'd go if I needed advice or help.

They are badly advertised though. I only found them through a freind when I moved here and I was doing quite a lot of research into what was about, I never found them myself on any websites or posters etc.

When I had DS1 3 years ago I joined the local surestart in Camden - the childrens centre wasnt up and running (only opened last year at long last) but they ran free baby swim sessions at a local pool and I managed to do a free first aid course through them, so it was useful to a point but not great for meeting local mums etc.

Now living in Queens Park (Brent) and had DS2 3 months ago. Apparently there wasnt a childrens centre/surestart here for ages and people had to use the one over in Kilburn (Camden) with rather prickly reception staff - however one opened here a few months ago (next to a school) and its great. They do courses with creches for the babies, run drop in groups (including a baby cafe - great to meet local mums), run stay and plays, music groups run by a speech therapist and also have massages and sacro cranial therapy that you can get there at £2 a pop! My DS1 goes there for stay and play a couple of times a week (and there is usually a speech therapist or nutritionist there at such times for mums or carers to speak to), they have snack times where kids make healthy snacks like "fruit caterpillars" and I've been there to speak to the speech therapist and for a talk she ran, plus to the baby cafe with DS2. The staff there all seem really friendly and very good and being a new centre all of the stuff is in great nick. A real mixture of people go there too so its good for the kids to mix with kids of all backgrounds.

I have to say sure start have been a godsend to me, in a number of ways.

When I was pregnant with DS2, I did aqua natal and DS1 used to go on the playbus to give me the ability to do it. Once DS2 was 6 weeks old he went on there too.

I used to go to small steps on a Friday with both the boys and music and dance group with instruments, which they both loved in equal measure.

I also go to Ducklings, which is water confidence with both boys for only £1 a week. This means than DS2 has been in the water since he was 4 weeks old and both of them are really confident and happy in the water.

We have also attended other events and stay and plays at the centres.

Since having my mastactomy and being ill, they have really rallied round to assist us. The boys go to a referred creche a couple of times a week for 2 hours at a time. They have allocated a key worker to me, who actually collected and returned the boys from their sessions and also still comes round once a week for a chat adn play with the boys - she will continue to do this until I ask her to stop.

We have started going to ducklings again.

I think many people feel the centres are only there for disadvanted families and this is not the case at all. My local team are great and the more you put in the more you get out.

It can be abused and some people oly go to the things with snacks etc attatched ie Soup Stop.

We have a new one opened near us in our library - every time i go it's just a library so not sure what they mean really!!

Our next local one i will NOT go to, would not feel safe taking myself or my children there.

mumofmonsters do you think the scummy mummies will mug ya?